When she was 17 years old, Liz was coerced by a Children's Aid worker into having an abortion and being sterilized at a northwestern Ontario hospital, she says — an experience she's carried for 40 years.
"It was a matter of me almost [being] cornered, if you will, by my worker at the time saying, 'You better have an abortion because if you don't, either way, we are going to take that child from you'," Liz says.
New research shows the forced sterilization of Indigenous women is not just a shameful part of Canadian history. Reports from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and the territories suggest it is still happening.